MINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING OF THE BOARD OF VISITORS
OF VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY
December 20, 1973
A regular meeting of the Board of Visitors of Virginia Commonwealth
University was held on Thursday, December 20, 1973, at 9:00 a.m. in the
President's Dining Room.
Present were Drs. Blanton, Gwathmey and Thornton and Messrs.
Dabney, Norris, Obenshain, Scott, Seaborn, Sheffield, Shumate and Turnbull.
Miss Keyser, Mr. McGehee and Mrs. Stone were absent. Also present were
Drs. Brandt, Brooke, Fleshood, Neal, Willett, Wilson and Woods; Messrs.
Holmes and Imirie; and Miss Cosby.
Dr. Blanton called the meeting to order. On motion made and
seconded, the minutes of a regular meeting of the Board of Visitors, held
November 15, 1973, and a special meeting of the Property Committee, held
November 15, 1973, were approved.
The report of an ad hoc committee appointed to review hospital
quality care programs was distributed. On Page 1, third line from the
bottom, the word "Board" should be deleted and the word "Rector" inserted.
Following discussion, on motion made and seconded, the following state-
ment was approved:
The Committee noted the absence of reference in the By-Laws
of the University to the role of the Board of Visitors as the
"governing Board" of the hospitals; the Committee also noted
other needs for Bylaw revision. Therefore, in accordance with
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the Committee's recommendations, the Board requests the
Rector to appoint a committee to review the Bylaws of the
Board and make such recommendations for revision as are
deemed appropriate.
Dr. Blanton appointed Mr. Obenshain, Mr. Sheffield and Mr. Seaborn,
with Mr. Seaborn as Chairman, to be the committee to review the Bylaws.
On motion made and seconded, the following statement was approved:
The Board of Visitors has the corporate legal responsibility
for the quality of medical care, and, therefore, requires from
the medical staff, as established in the medical staff's approved
bylaws, rules and regulations, that all recommendations for
staff appointments must include a clear delineation of clinical
privileges, commensurate with the training, experience, com-
petence, judgment, character and current capabilities of the
candidate. A final decision on a recommendation to the Board
of Visitors from the medical staff will be rendered by the Board
within sixty (60) days of the meeting in which the recommenda-
tion was first presented.
The Board of Visitors requires that the medical staff assure the
Board that each candidate for appointment or reappointment to
the medical staff has agreed in writing to release the Board
from liability for the Board's and/or the medical staff's activities,
performed in good faith without malice. This includes those
activities in the performance of evaluating the candidate's
credentials, and the candidate's ongoing competence, ethics,
character as revealed to the Board of Visitors from time to time
in the professional standards review activities, specifically
those involving the medical audit and utilization review activities
as outlined in the approved bylaws of the medical staff.
The Board of Visitors requires the Bylaws, Rules and Regulations
of the Medical Staff to include adequate and competent review
of the professional performance and competence of its member-
ship and the qualitative and quantitative results of the medical
staff's individual and collective membership in the practice of
their profession. The Board of Visitors requires that the medical
staff, through its organization as provided in its approved Bylaws,
report to them on at least a quarterly basis on their professional
and quality review activities pointing out those individuals and/or
those areas where educational and/or direct action was taken as
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a result of the review. Specifically, the medical staff must make
recommendations that require Board action to insure the continuance
of high quality patient care.
Dr. Neal noted that one or more members of the Board may be asked
to appear before the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Hospitals in
order to acknowledge that the Board is aware of the actions being taken in
the area of hospital quality care.
Following the report of the President, Dr. Robert W. Jessee, Dr.
Frederick J. Spencer, Mr. Arthur Gatenby and Miss Cathy Bergen were
introduced. The Board has asked the administration to study the feasibility
for a demonstration program of health delivery, and an application was sub-
mitted to the federal government for a grant for a pre-paid health plan. The
money was originally granted, but was impounded. Kappa Systems, Inc.,
was hired to study the feasibility of a Health Maintenance Organization for
VCU.
Mr. Arthur Gatenby said that four main areas were studied: (1) the
interest of the physicians; (2) the ability of the hospital to participate in
such a plan; (3) the ability to form such a plan without any outside money;
and (4) the interest of the university family in such a plan. The HMO would
use an average of six beds per day. The cost to the participant would be
$23 per month for a single person to $62 per month for a family. The plan
would be solvent until over-utilization occurs or 850 days per 1,000 enrollees.
Based on the study done by Kappa Systems, it was determined that there is
sufficient interest and ability to establish an HMO at MCV/VCU. The main
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reason for establishing an HMO would be to demonstrate another method of
health care delivery. A lengthy discussion ensued, following which it was
agreed that members of the Board would receive several pertinent articles
prior to the January 17 meeting and further discussion would be postponed
until that meeting.
Dr. Warren Strandberg, Dean of the School of Education, reported
on the various activities and programs in the School. Following discussion
on motion made and seconded, the proposed departmental reorganization of
the School of Education, reducing the number of departments from eight to
five, was approved unanimously.
Dr. Woods presented the proposal to delete the M.S. and Ph.D.
degrees in Legal Medicine. It was moved, seconded and unanimously
approved that the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Legal Medicine be deleted.
On motion made and seconded, the proposal to change the name of
the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation to the Department
of Rehabilitation Medicine was approved unanimously.
On motion made and seconded, the following resolution was adopted
unanimously:
WHEREAS, prior to the issuance of Revenue Bonds, the
Virginia Commonwealth University was authorized by the
Governor under date of January 29, 1973, to borrow $3,000,000
from the State Treasury at the rate of 4% per annum to pay the
construction costs for the Parking Deck, Capital Items C-296
and C-297, for 1,750 cars on the Health Sciences Campus; and
WHEREAS, the $3,000,000 advance funds will have been
spent by January 10, 1974; and
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WHEREAS, the State of Virginia has not yet sold the
Revenue Bonds for this project and additional funds for
construction are needed; therefore, be it
RESOLVED, that the Vice-President for Finance is
hereby authorized to borrow an additional $2,050,000
which will extend the loan authorization to $5,050,000
the full amount of the project.
The hospital accounts report was accepted unanimously on motion
made and seconded.
On motion made and seconded, the faculty appointments and changes
of status were approved unanimously.
Dr. Blanton read the following letter which he received from Mrs.
Jane Bell Gladding:
December 17, 1973
Dr. Wyndham B. Blanton, Jr.
Rector, Board of Visitors
Virginia Commonwealth University
Dear Dr. Blanton:
It is a great honor and a great pleasure to be given
emeritus status by the Board of Visitors. Dr. Brandt
made the announcement at a dinner on Friday evening,
December fourteenth. I was so stunned by that honor
and others that I did not adequately express my appre-
ciation at the time.
I shall continue to watch VCU's development with
great interest and am proud to have a continued identity
with it.
Please express my gratitude to the members of the
Board of Visitors for conferring this honor upon me.
Sincerely and gratefully,
Jane Bell Grinnan Gladding
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Dr. Woods discussed the Comprehensive Cancer Center plans.
Three grant applications were submitted in June, 1973, for the Center.
On October 1, 1973, more applications were submitted. About three weeks
ago, the three program project applications submitted in June were disapproved.
Since the second group of applications were based in part on the first three
applications, the second applications were withdrawn about two weeks ago.
Tentative plans call for resubmitting the construction grant applications on
June 1, 1974.
The meeting was adjourned at 12:25 p.m.
Report of the President to the Board of Visitors
December 20, 1973
The campus has been very quiet lately. Most of the institution will be
closing down for Christmas break from December 21 until January 2.
Dr. Brandt pointed out the statistical comparison on the libraries in the
agenda. The library usage is continuing to accelerate at a fantastic rate.
The Shaner Report is due to come out soon. Mr. Shaner and two of his
associates met with Dr. Brandt to review the comments in response to the
Shaner Report. He did not commit himself to any changes so we will have
to play it by ear.
Miss Theresa Pollak gave VCU 18 paintings covering the period from 1924
up to the present. This was a very fine gift to the institution.
On December 3, a special Board of Visitors meeting was held because
the Governor had requested that each State agency return five percent of
its biennial budget. We were able to return 1 . 2 percent or $545,700.
This has put a significant strain on the institution. It has obviously
slowed down progress.
Mr. Claiborne Robins' challenge of $3 million has been acknowledged by
many Board members individually. This is a great gift. We are still
working with the State trying to get the Governor to put the remainder of
the building in the budget. This is going to take a great deal of work.
Dr. Blanton received a book from a member of the faculty saying that his
denial of tenure was a conspiracy on the part of Dr. Brandt and Dr. Brooke.
Dr. Brandt denied the charge.
Mr. T. Edward Temple will be joining VCU on January 15, 1974, as Vice-
President for Development and University Relations.
The library construction is progressing, and the footings for Oliver-Science
Hall have been installed. Sanger III should be complete by April 1. Renova-
tion of the Nursing Education building should be getting underway the first
week of January. Renovation will be started on Randolph-Minor the first
part of January. About a year later, Hunton and MacFarland Halls will be
torn down. The parking deck is progressing.
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Registration by computer was used for the first time. There were some
relatively minor problems, but everything went well.
At the January meeting of the University Assembly, the administration will
present a system of limiting tenure to 65 percent for each school. There
will be considerable negative reaction to this from members of the faculty
